>> good afternoon and welcome to the mayor's disability council, room 400,san francisco city hall. our meeting is fully accessible to persons using wheelchairs. assisting listening devices are available. our meeting is open captioned and sign interpreting is available. braille is available. ask staff for any assistance. the respect everyone's ability to focus on the presentation, please either turn off all

mobile phones and pdas, or change these devices to vibrate mode. your cooperation is appreciated. we welcome the public's participation during public comment. you may complete a speakers card available in the front of the room. the mayor's disability council meeting are generally the third friday of each month. our next regular meeting will not be until january 18, 2013, from 1 o'clock to four o'clock here, san francisco city hall, room 400. call the mayor's office on disability for further information or to request accommodations at 415-554-6789. voice. or

415-554-6799, tty. a reminder to all of our guests today to speak slowly into the microphone to assist our captioners and interpreters. we thank you for joining us and ken stein has an announcement regarding the bridge line. thank you. >> we also want to invite people who are at home, they can listen via the bridge line, 415-554-9632. usually the bridge line has the capacity for people to talk to us. today there are technical problems. we don't have the capability. we do welcome people's comments nonetheless. if you like to call monday,

554-6799, tty. email, - we apologize for our difficulties. >> thank you mr. stein. proceeding with agenda item number one, may we initiated roll call please. >> present today we have councilmembers wong, wilson, burkett, james, parson. >> item 2, reading and approval of agenda. with mr. stein..

>> here i am again. regular meeting, mayors disability council. one, welcome, introduction roll call. two, approval of the agenda. three, public comment, four, report from the chair. five, report from the director of the mayor's office of disability. six, report of the transportation plan update. seven, community perspective of supportive housing and sros eight, action item. nine, action item, proposed amendment to the mdc by laws. -- elven, multimodal accessibility committee update.

eleven, public comment. that was 12, 13, correspondent, 14 councilmember comments and announcements. 15 adjourn. >> thank you. moving on the public comment agenda item number three. i have one speakers card here. our friends across the day ms. denise jacobson, with the oakland mayor's commission. we welcome you. anyone else who wishes to speak after her? please step forward. >> thank you. i'm very happy to be here today. i am the vice-chair of

oakland's mayor's -- (off mic) (off mic) (indiscernible) >> excuse me ms. jacobson? would you please try to start over, and talk closer to the mic. >> okay. i am vice-chair of the mayor's commission on persons with

disabilities. for the past year. we've been looking to -- problems of (indiscernible). we decided that we are going to -- >> what were the problems again? >> the -- are in poor condition.

>> bart elevators. are in poor condition. >> who is they? >> the bart elevators. >> wonderful. >> this has been a matter of discussion for us. we are happy to have you come and speak about it. >> we are asking people who ride bart to keep a log of the

experience for the period of november and december. i've passed out my -- business cards for any of you who want more information. and if one of the members of the council

wants to be contacted please contact me by e-mail. we are excited about collaborating with the council and i've also contacted the people on the berkley commission.

if we can all work this together, hopefully we'll get bart to take action. thank you. >> that's wonderful. thank you ms. jacobs. to confirm with staff i believe we distributed on e-mail, reflecting ms. jacobson's. for those of you who have visual challenges, have you accessed as well? we look forward to working with you as well. good to see you.

we are joined next by mr. polson. i heard this is your last meeting, you're going to hawaii, good luck, (singing( ) fly the ocean in a silver plane. the islands, when wet with rain, remember we will miss you here, and all your work with disabilities (singing) we will be alone without you. maybe you will see the water blue, blue. and you will have a lot of warm climate. and it will make you smile in the island sun. and i hope but most of all,

you have lots of fun... whether i'm disability right, disability wrong, whether i find a place in the city, i've got to be me, i've got to be free, with disability, i'm willing to try, do it or die, i have to be disability free. our world -- is waiting for you. i know you won't fall down. you won't settle for disability. if you could have it all. i've got to be free. you've got to have a better disability, willing to try, do it or die. you've got to be disability

free. thank you. see you later. >> thank you so much mr. poston, you always brighten our day. aloha. do we have - this is a familiar face, our next public speaker is my former cochair -- welcome back. >> thank you very much. i am honored to be here today. it's bittersweet. i do know that you are going on to why as well.

i work with you for over five years. you you have been a mentor and a friend. we won't go into those too much. >> i do! (laughter) >> being a blind person, i have a different approach, a different need in a way to get to know people. i cannot see faces at all. i got to make up what i want people to look like. i usually make them like greek gods and goddesses. which was also the case with jewels. except with jewels i made her out to be a swimsuit model,

which will be handy in hawaii. seriously, when i got to look into the insight of her to get to know her i saw a person with extreme passion for the work she has done in the disability community. she has always excelled. she make sure it is not done halfway decently, but done well. she has been such an influence on me. i have learned so much from her. and i know that she has also taught many of us in this room a lot about disabilities. and through personal experience. it was also nice to be part of the dynamic duo; the blind and the deaf.

we made a good combination together. in between the two of us, it was always something to cherish very very much. thank you for all of your service. thank you for everything that you have done for the council. and thank you for everything that you have done for me as well. i do hope that you have fun in hawaii. thank you. >> i am deeply touched. the sentiment goes both ways. i think we were a great team in retrospect. i wish what we were able to -- upon the council. that passion and commitment and dedication for inclusion.

it's been a wonderful ride, and a wonderful place too to meet diversity and bridge the gap between human beings. find out what makes us all the same. thank you so much for your kind words. do we have any other public comment at the moment? moving along in our agenda, we are on to, public comment from the phone. a good time to let folks know that i will be leaving at the end of the year. i have issued my resignation the mayor lee. and i have thanked him for the opportunity to serve the city and county of san francisco.

-- through a myriad projects with a fabulous staff, dedicated leaders, passionate community advocates. we welcome knowing what people need and try to work with them to direct them from their personal needs to expand -- that will affect the larger part of the whole. it is a constant, constant endeavor always, makes you ever alert. when you walk around you see that folks don't have the same access in any way. it's a step, a barrier,

language barrier; they could be how someone is saying something. what i have learned over the years being so privileged to work with everyone here is that we all come in different colors, sizes, shapes and that's what makes it so rewarding and exciting. it's always new. there's always something to learn. and the people here on staff are qualified on the issue of civil rights. to support us as councilmembers and the public to know, educate what are our rights.

how you make your right to be heard. that's been a wonderful source of support. i will say to my colleagues, to the public, if you have any question about disability access in san francisco, call the mayor's office on disability. i cannot go without saying, it starts from the top. you have the mayor's office on disability. this is an administrative department, funded by the mayor. the mayor gets to check off on the budget. for the three mayors i've had the pleasure to work for, mayor brown, mayor newsom and now mayor lee, they make sure that we have the funds that we need to pursue disability

access, that is vital. that is from the top. what we get to do as councilmembers, i'm trying to promote people stepping forward to apply as a council member in the future. we get to try to bridge some of the gaps that ms. jacobson herself did today. across the bay. she sees a need, she tries to bridge the gap. sometimes we need to be angry. that's okay. if we come with respect, human respect, we respect the notion of human rights will be okay. it is called the squeaky wheel,

as our former director used to set. the squeaky wheel is oiled by law, it will move forward. i started out in the committee. the program access committee. it is no longer in existence. one of our main projects was trying to include disability rights in the -- i'm thinking about it myself -- when you hire a contractor, you have minority rights. i am missing what that is called. we tried to get disability rights in there too. that an amendment to -- and that went by the wayside. there's plenty of projects to focus on in the future. i love san francisco.

many of our leaders going to state government. you have such an opportunity here to affect policy. you have an opportunity to provide a model as a person with a disability. someone other than what we have seen in movies in the past. mr. magoo cartoons, and i'm dating myself. let me say, there are many respectful ways to acknowledge our differences. if you're coming from respect, it's okay. you will find a way. i have enjoyed all the colleagues i have worked with. please try not to take your

position for granted. you are a source of power of your own. take joy in working together. this is probably one of the most satisfying experiences of my life to see that i as a person with a hearing impairment can go out into my community and become engaged. i can participate and brainstorming a group. that is what we have going on in our committee. folks here on tv, don't see what goes on in the background. there's a lot that goes on. it's okay. you can be --

and appreciate what you have. i look forward to coming back and seeing you folks. i hope that i will have something to say about what i have experienced. where i am going. because once you are touched, as a civil servant, once you are sworn in, and you take that seriously, you would think that with you wherever you go. i look forward to keeping in touch and you guys. i hope that you would keep in touch with me. i thank you for your indulging me. i am letting you know that this is the most fantastic experience i think i have ever had. and you are all thankfully a part of it. thank you very much. having said that,

more of the nuts and bolts-- (off mic) >> hi. >> would you like to use mine? >> no. it's okay. i appreciate everything that i learned, and i still have a lot to learn from you. maybe i will be writing you long letters on how to proceed on my career here. as i expand my other avenues also. it would be terrific to keep in touch with you so that i can also - because i feel a kinship to you. because you've been so helpful and so friendly and open and we have become friends. i really appreciate you and love you. and maybe you will become

councilmember in hawaii and invite us over to your part of the country so we can observe what they're doing in hawaii in the disability community. we will stay in touch. i also wanted to do something. (correction) give you something. i want to thank you so much for all the work that you have done for our community. and continued work. i want to see you continue to work. you are so good. you have the compassion. you have the goal of being a real people person. people would love you anyway whether or not you are working on our committee. there are places where i know you will contribute. thank you so much for all of your hard work. thank you so much.

>> that's wonderful. would like to take a photo.